Disciples III: Renaissance Preview

After spending some firsthand time with the strategy/RPG sequel during this year’s Game Developers Conference, WorthPlaying becomes the latest website to crank out a preview of Disciples III: Renaissance.

You start the campaign on the global map, which, like a traditional RPG, is how you move about the world. Your hero character is your main avatar on the map, and when you make changes to him/her on the inventory screen, you’ll see those changes manifest visually immediately. Add a crown to him, and it’ll appear right away on his avatar both on the global map and the battle map, for example.

As you set out in your journeys across the global map, you’ll encounter plenty of fabulous beasties. We were shown a mix of creatures, including werewolves, bandits, evil mermaids, a Kraken and a couple of others. These monsters, with the amount of detail they sported, really showcased the new graphics engine that’s being used for the game. Once you decide to pick a fight with a creature, the game drops out of the global map and down to a more tactically focused battle map. At this point, you start moving your units for optimal attack position, while making sure weaker units (spellcasters are always wimps about armor) are covered by the stronger units or natural cover. It becomes a distinctly turn-based affair at this point, with whomever earns initiative moving first, then attacking/defending, and so on.